Channel 4 pulls the plug
Channel 4 will no longer broadcast the U.K. edition of "Married At First Sight," the network said Thursday. The decision follows allegations that two women were raped during production of the show's sixth season. Chief executive Priya Dogra confirmed it in a statement, saying the "right course was to bring Married At First Sight UK on Channel 4 to an end."
The allegations were first made public this summer in a BBC Panorama investigation, according to NBC News. One woman alleged that the husband she was matched with raped her and threatened her with an acid attack, according to the BBC. A third woman accused her onscreen husband of sexual misconduct. All three men denied the allegations.
What the external review found
Channel 4 hired the law firm Clyde & Co to examine the safety protocols in place when the alleged misconduct occurred and how the production company handled the issues once they were raised. According to the network, the firm reviewed more than 30,000 documents as well as hours of footage.
The review found that both the network and the production company met the requirements of the U.K.'s Office of Communications, and it found no overall breach of the broadcasting code. It also found that the full "welfare framework" was not applied in some incidents. In one example, contributors who broke rules on "prohibited substances" were given a warning rather than removed from the show.
The network did not release the full report, describing it as a "legally privileged and confidential review," and provided a summary of findings instead. It said the review did not seek "to adjudicate" the allegations, which it said "remain a matter for the relevant authorities."
Recommendations and the network's reasoning
Channel 4 also asked former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey to consider whether any protocols should change. Her report said some elements of the show could pressure people into physical intimacy, and she recommended the producers consider dropping events such as Intimacy Week and Partner Swap Week. She also said the show's stars could "become dependent on production and lose touch with reality," which could affect their decision-making.
Heggessey suggested the show consider changing the rule that requires a couple to stay another week when one partner wants to leave but the other asks to remain at the weekly commitment ceremonies. Other recommendations included round-the-clock monitored video and recording equipment in couples' apartments, separate bedrooms, "panic buttons," and at least one unsupervised visit home for contributors during production.
The network said fully adopting the recommendations would require far more intervention, monitoring and supervision and would "fundamentally alter the format and editorial proposition of the programme." Dogra called the recommendations "eminently sensible and feasible" but said considering them wholesale raised fundamental questions about a show that she believes "has now run its course over ten years." She said the money budgeted for the series would go toward finding "the next generation of distinctive and disruptive British television," and she thanked staff for their efforts to protect contributors' welfare.
Production company responds; earlier criticism abroad
CPL, the production company, said it understood the network's decision, according to Sky News. It pointed to Heggessey's finding that its welfare protocols were "extensive, extremely thorough and of a high standard." The company said it "has always put contributor welfare at the heart of its programme making and will continue to do so."
The show's premise has strangers agree to be matched and meet at the altar, with cameras following their marriages and counselors discussing their problems on air. Versions have aired in several countries, including the U.S., Australia, France and Spain.
This is not the franchise's first controversy. The Australian edition has been criticized for putting contestants in potentially harmful situations, including matching a woman with a man who had a history of domestic abuse allegations. Those allegations were dismissed before filming began. The woman, Awhina Rutene, told The Guardian in June that the show "obviously needed a better vetting process." She said she was not abused but described the environment as invasive and said physical intimacy felt "forced." The Guardian reported that Australia's communications regulator has conducted 10 investigations and found no breaches of its code of practice.
